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We’ve had great feedback from early users of Pinpoint software. They aren’t just using Pinpoint for interface troubleshooting. They’re also incorporating the software into their gap analysis workflow. In this context, gap analysis is the process of documenting the HL7 interface gaps between new software and legacy systems.

Here’s one way Pinpoint can make this process a little quicker.

Start with a Message Log Analysts usually start with a raw message log from the provider, covering a few days of transactions. The log contains multiple segments, covering whatever the provider needs in the way of data from the software currently in place.

Filter Out Unneeded Segments Many of these segments won’t be relevant to the gap analysis. But with a plain text editor like Notepad, analysts would have no choice but to parse the extra segments. For instance, for a new flowsheet, an analyst might need to screen the PID (patient identification), PV1 (patient visit) and OBX (observation) segments, but not INS-related segments, which contain payer-related data.

With Pinpoint, analysts can filter out the extra segments before starting to document gaps. This means they don’t have to read and scroll through extraneous data — which makes a big difference when they’re sampling batches of 50 to 100 messages at a time, out of a total volume of 5000 messages.

Filter out extra segments with Pinpoint

(demo data generated by Caristix software)

And that’s a quick tip for using Pinpoint during the HL7 interface gap analysis process. We’ll be posting an article on gap analysis workflow and potential pitfalls later this week.